Unterwalden
Unterwalden is the name of the area that consists of the two Swiss cantons of Nidwalden and Obwalden . In the Old Confederation , Unterwalden was, alongside Appenzell, one of the two “places with a divided voice”.
Especially in older official documents, one finds the terms "Unterwalden ob dem Wald" or "Unterwalden nid dem Wald" for these cantons with half a professional vote and only one Council of States (formerly called half cantons ). The cantonal constitution of 1968, which is still valid today, was originally called the “Constitution of the canton of Unterwalden ob dem Wald” (like the constitutions of 1850, 1867 and 1902), but in 2007 it was renamed “Constitution of the canton of Obwalden”. Nidwalden took the corresponding step in 2010. At the federal level, the term “Unterwalden” was given up in the new federal constitution of 1999.
Unterwalden belonged to the Waldstätten and, along with Uri and Schwyz, was one of the three original cantons of the Confederation . The federal letter of 1291 , which is considered a historical founding document, lists Uri, Schwyz and a "lower valley" (vallis inferioris) . This could mean Nidwalden or, according to Roger Sablonier, also the Urserental . In the description of the Rütli oath in the White Book of Sarnen , an Obwalden farmer (later named Arnold von Melchtal ) appears as the third sworn to Walter Fürst von Uri and Werner Stauffacher von Schwyz.
“Unter-” in the name “Unterwalden” is not the opposite of “upper-”, but rather has the meaning “between”, compare the Walliser Unterbäch between Milibach and Löübbach, the Bern Unterseen between Thunersee and Brienzersee, the Uri Unterschächen between Äsch- and Brunnischachen as well as the St. Gallen Unterwasser between Wildhauser Thur and Säntisthur. Correspondingly, in the late Middle Ages the name was Inter Silvas in Latin , meaning "between the woods".
Culture
Coat of arms and seal
The coat of arms of Unterwalden, which was used in the 17th and 18th centuries. Before that, the shield, split horizontally in white and red, was shown.
Common coat of arms for Unterwalden according to the resolution of the assembly of August 12, 1816.
Stained glass from 1901 in the dome of the Federal Palace
The seal of Unterwalden with the added inscription et vallis superioris (German: and of the upper valley = Obwalden)
Web links
- Emil Weber: Unterwalden. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Schweizerisches Idiotikon , Volume I, Column 324 ff., Article under I, Bed. Ab ( digital copy ); Volume XVI, Column 1479, Article Underwalden ( digitized ).
- ^ Emil Weber: Unterwalden. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ↑ Flag Regulations of the Swiss Armed Forces ( Memento of the original dated May 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6.2 MB), p. 67
